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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24868135">Ashes to Ashes (Bones to Dust)</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/gunpowder_and_pearls/pseuds/gunpowder_and_pearls'>gunpowder_and_pearls</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Phoenix Zuko verse [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Avatar: The Last Airbender</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Fire Lord Zuko (eventual), Iroh (Avatar) is a Good Uncle, Like seriously terrible, Ozai (Avatar) Being a Terrible Parent, Zuko (Avatar) Angst, Zuko (Avatar) Needs a Hug, Zuko (Avatar) whump, Zuko (Avatar)-centric, Zuko dies a lot, Zuko's Childhood (Avatar), Zuko's Scar (Avatar), hurt zuko, phoenix zuko</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-06-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-06-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 09:22:03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,426</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24868135</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/gunpowder_and_pearls/pseuds/gunpowder_and_pearls</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Phoenixes are things of legends.</p><p>It’s said that when a firebender is born a phoenix they are spirit touched.</p><p>They are intertwined with the future of the world. When a phoenix is born, it’s a sign of great change. Of luck. </p><p>Ozai hadn’t believed in their existence. </p><p>Then Zuko was born.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Phoenix Zuko verse [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1807297</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>47</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>894</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Ashes to Ashes (Bones to Dust)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Phoenixes are things of legends.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It’s said that when a firebender is born a phoenix they are spirit touched.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>They are intertwined with the future of the world. When a phoenix is born, it’s a sign of great change. Of luck. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Ozai hadn’t believed in their existence. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Then Zuko was born.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He was born in the dead of night, the moon shining brightly over his head. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He died hours later. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Too weak, </span>
  </em>
  <span>Ozai had thought. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>There hadn’t been a spark in his eyes anyway. It was just as well that the useless child had passed quickly. It saved Ozai the effort of killing it later. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Ursa had screamed and cried, clutching the tiny corpse to her chest. She was adamant about holding it through the night. Who was Ozai to deny her that?</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>But in the morning, young giggles were filling the halls outside Ursa’s room. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He was told that as the sun rose the baby had burst into flames, and moments later he was alive, covered in ashes, wide eyed and smiling up at his mother. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Ozai had sired a phoenix. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The tide of the war was going to change. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The spirits had decreed it. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Ozai smiles.</span>
</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>
  <span>Zuko’s childhood was odd. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>His father seemed to be almost constantly watching him. At first, Zuko had been excited. Maybe his father wanted to play with him!</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>But at the end of every day it was another look of disappointment, another comment about his </span>
  <em>
    <span>missing spark.</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Zuko isn’t sure what he’s doing wrong. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>His mother takes him to the turtleduck pond and lets him feed the birds, laughing with him as they give the newly born chicks names.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Then Azula is born. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>His father is ecstatic. He stops watching Zuko and instead devotes almost all of his time to his daughter. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Zuko tries not to feel too dejected when his father walks past him without a second glance, a sleeping Azula in his arms. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He doesn’t remember his father ever carrying him like that. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>------</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He’s seven years old when a flame finally blooms in his palm. He’s more terrified than happy. He doesn’t want to do firebending training, where the Masters are harsh and unrelenting in their criticisms. But his father wanted him to firebend. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Zuko goes to him and holds out a shaky hand, screwing up his face and furrowing his brows, forcing that tiny spark to do what he wants it to. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The fire is just a small as before but it’s steady, moving with each breath he takes. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>His father does nothing but frown, glaring down at Zuko as he cringes back in the face of his anger. “Your sister mastered that when she was four.” The disdain in his voice is targeted at nothing and no one but Zuko. “You will begin training tomorrow.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The Fire Lord sweeps away, leaving Zuko with anxiety bubbling in his stomach and tears prickling in his eyes. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>But he doesn’t let them fall. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>His father didn’t talk to him much, not anymore, but one of the lessons he taught was to not cry. It was a hard lesson to learn, but princes didn’t cry, not over scrapes and bruises. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Certainly not over the burns that encircle his wrists. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Firebenders don’t hurt from burns.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>------</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He’s nine years old the second time he dies. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He and Azula are playing on the rooftops over a courtyard. Zuko is an assassin and she is the powerful Fire Lord. They don’t get along as much after Azula killed the turtle ducks he was so fond of. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>But today is a good day and Azula is happy, giggling as Zuko spouts dramatic lines declaring his intent to kill her. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>They tussle, Azula sending blasts of fire from her palms that Zuko struggles to dodge. Then, one fight becomes too much and Azula sends him over the edge. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She’d pushed him, intent on sending him stumbling back so that she could fix her imaginary crown, when his foot goes off the roof. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The rest of him quickly follows, his arms swinging out in a desperate attempt to balance. It’s a useless gesture. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He hits the ground with the image of his sister desperately reaching for him, fear plastered over her face. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The world goes dark fairly quickly, with only a brief burst of pain filling him before he’s gone. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He comes back to his senses moments later, memories of where he’d been already fleeing his mind. A living thing cannot remember the spirit world, not if they died. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Azula is standing over him, face tear streaked and chin wobbling as she cries his name. He gives her a hug and allows her to bury her wet face in his shoulder. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“B-But you’re not dead!” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Zuko shakes his head, rubbing her back soothingly. “I’m a phoenix, Lala. I can’t die, okay? I’m okay.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He’d only found out what he was a year before, his mother explaining it to him in hushed words. She’d made him swear to never tell a soul. But Azula deserves to know. She’s his little sister, she won’t do anything to him. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He regrets ever telling her only two years later.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>------</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It’s a week or two after Uncle returned from Ba Sing Se and they’ve just presented their bending to Fire Lord Azulon. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Azula is leaning against his doorway, crowing about how Father is going to </span>
  <em>
    <span>kill him</span>
  </em>
  <span>. She begins to speculate, listing ways that Father might try to kill him. He tries to deny it, to block out her words by convincing himself of their falseness. It doesn’t work. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Mother appears only moments later and leaves, dragging Azula behind her for ‘a talk’. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Zuko goes to bed muttering to himself, “Azula always lies. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Azula always lies</span>
  </em>
  <span>.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He wakes up hours later, suffocating. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>A pillow is being pressed into his face and Zuko bucks, throwing all his strength into pulling the fabric from his face. His attacker doesn’t budge. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Zuko chokes on nothing, tears streaming down his face as spots begin to cloud his vision. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Maybe,</span>
  </em>
  <span> he thinks, </span>
  <em>
    <span>this time I won’t come back. Maybe the spirits only wanted me to survive until now</span>
  </em>
  <span>. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He dies slowly this time, lungs begging for air that they never get. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He wakes up in the morning, both his pajamas and his bedding soaked. He remembers reading somewhere that if you kept a phoenix doused in water the morning following their death, they would be unable to be reborn. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Evidently someone forgot that it needs to be a continuous stream of water. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He finds out that in the night the Fire Lord was poisoned and his mother disappeared. For the first time in a long while, Zuko lets himself cry. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>------</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>In the years between his mother’s disappearance and his banishment, he dies so many times that he loses count. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Azula takes a special joy in cornering him and practicing her bending on him. He dies by lightning more times than he dies by anything else. The scars never remain, disappearing each time he wakes up again. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The stuttering of his heart and the drawn out fading of his senses never fail to terrify him, no matter how many times she does it. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Once, a servant sees them. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She dies the second her startled sound leaves her mouth. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Zuko stares into her empty eyes as his heart stutters, stutters </span>
  <em>
    <span>stops-</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>------</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He has never been so furious in his life. Their job is to </span>
  <em>
    <span>protect </span>
  </em>
  <span>their citizens, not </span>
  <em>
    <span>send them to their deaths.</span>
  </em>
  <span> He voices these thoughts, even at the agreeing look on his father’s face, because what kind of Fire Lord </span>
  <em>
    <span>does this?</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>When his father brings his burning palm to Zuko’s face, Zuko prepares himself for the familiar feeling of burning skin, for the smell of blistering flesh. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Even with all his experience with burns he can’t hold his scream in. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>When he blinks open his eyes-</span>
  <em>
    <span>eye</span>
  </em>
  <span>- again, he’s surprised to not find himself covered in ashes, as is customary each time he is reborn. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>For the first time in his many, many lives, he wishes to be dead. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He wonders if he’ll ever even get to stay dead. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>But then Uncle is at his side and is pushing him back down into bed, murmuring words of comfort. Zuko falls asleep to the motion of the ship moving around him and the newly found knowledge that his father would </span>
  <em>
    <span>never </span>
  </em>
  <span>be proud of him. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Maybe it’s wisdom that he gained in his forgotten memories of the Spirit world, but he knows that finding the Avatar is not what he is going to waste his years doing. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He is going to save his nation, banished or not. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>No matter how many lives of his he expends in his attempts. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>------</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>His crew find out that he’s a phoenix a year into his banishment. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>They’d been sailing for months, gathering intelligence on just how the war impacted smaller villages, on how Fire Nation soldiers fought while taking over towns, and were disgusted by it. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Zuko was furious. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The Fire Lord hadn’t announced Zuko’s abilities, as he had wished to take the other nations by surprise. Having a secret weapon was much more useful to him than having Zuko on the front lines of whatever army he commanded, with the widespread knowledge of what he was. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He hadn’t wanted his enemies to have any a moment to prepare for the Spirits gifted powers that they would’ve been about to be attacked with. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>But with Zuko’s firebending abilities too weak to ever turn the tide in a battle, Ozai quickly discarded that idea. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>To have a phoenix so weak was a sure sign of the Fire Nation’s weakness, and so the news was not allowed to leave the royal family’s chambers. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He was climbing the mast when it happened. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>After so many times dying, Zuko gripped the ladder rungs much looser than a man who feared death would. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>A particularly large wave crashed into the side of his ship and sent him tumbling from his perch. He hit the deck without a sound, his neck snapping on impact. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>When he wakes up, he finds almost the entire crew crowding around him, Uncle just within arms reach. There are concerned and horrified faces surrounding him, with tears pouring down Uncle’s. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Zuko scrambles to his feet, mind going in three different places at once, and then sways from a violent rush of nausea. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Nephew,” Uncle says, reaching out to him hesitantly, “Perhaps you should sit down.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Zuko opens his mouth, prepared to tell him just how many times this had happened to him, how he was entirely unaffected at this point, when he feels another surge of unsteadiness, and rushes to the ship’s edge, hurling his breakfast into the sea. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The helmsman doesn’t hesitate in directing his ship to their new destination. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Zuko ignores any attempts to speak to him as he stalks back to his room, and pretends like he doesn’t nearly throw up again from the familiar smell of ash that surrounds him.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>------</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He’s fifteen when he decides to return to the Fire Nation.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Even after all his years at sea, he still thinks of it as home. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Zuko doesn’t tell Uncle, only leaves a note in his room telling him to continue lending aid to any who will accept it and finding his old contacts who are spread all over the world. He doesn’t tell him where he plans to go or what he plans to do, only that he should not attempt to track Zuko. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>That it was Zuko’s responsibility to do what he is planning. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Hopefully Uncle will think that Zuko felt responsible for the demolition of one village or another, and was traveling there to do what he could to rebuild. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He prays to every spirit he can think of as he walks from the Earth Kingdom port they were docked at to the nearest supply ship heading to the Fire Nation. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The ship is filled with Fire Nation soldiers who had no qualms in taking from whatever town they arrived at, and Zuko doesn’t feel guilty for the dent he is going to make in their rations. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>A few weeks into the voyage he wakes up to the inside of the ship almost ten degrees higher than it had been when he boarded it. They have finally made it into Fire Nation territory. Zuko tells himself that the knot in his stomach is from excitement, not dread. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>------</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>By the time he’s reached the palace he has heard every single rumor of the Avatar that exists. The only consistent information he’s told is that the Avatar was able to defeat an entire Fire Nation navy by use of the Ocean Spirit. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He hears that the Avatar has found a firebending teacher and Zuko sends a prayer to Agni that it is Uncle. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The servant passages that fill the palace are still in use, doors heavily oiled and hallways lit with torches. For once, Zuko is grateful for the rule that servants are not to be seen by royalty. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He makes it to the throne room. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>His father is waiting for him. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The Fire Lord is just as intimidating as he was the day Zuko was banished, but Zuko is stronger than he was before. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He wields steel just as easily as he fights with fire. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He can only hope that it will take his father by surprise. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>At first, his father laughs. He laughs at Zuko’s weakness, for what firebender needs steel to fight when they have the blessing of Agni at their fingertips?</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Zuko cuts him. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Zuko makes him bleed. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He tells himself it was worth it days later. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The Fire Lord is startled, if only for a moment, at the blade that flies from Zuko’s hand, that flies true. He manages to dodge it, but not entirely. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It grazes his neck. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>An instant later, Zuko is on his back, limbs splayed out and face pressed into the ground by a burning hand. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>His screams seem to only encourage his father. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It’s hours later, leaving Zuko with more burns than undamaged skin, when he dies. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>His father left his face untouched, except for his initial attack. The shape of fingers are burned into his jaw. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Finally, </span>
  <em>
    <span>finally, </span>
  </em>
  <span>Ozai kills him. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He bends lightning onto his fingertips and pushes it into Zuko’s prone form. It was the quickest Zuko had ever died by a firebender. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>------</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>This time when he dies, he wakes up remembering the Spirit world. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>This time when he wakes up, he has every single scar that was ever inflicted on him. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The Phoenix Queen, the first phoenix, told him that it was so that he would remember. So that when he finally fulfilled his destiny, he would do what was needed of him. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Zuko prays that it wasn’t to kill Azula. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He knows that she was leading the hunt on the Avatar.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He knows what she had become, what their father had molded her into. He knows of the destruction that she leaves in her wake. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>But she is his little sister. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She is still the little girl who was terrified when he died in front of her. She is still the five year old who made him carry her around on his back, shouting instructions to bring her to the kitchens so that they could sneak a few treats back to their rooms. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He doesn’t think he could kill her. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>------</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The guards outside of his cell seem to care. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>After his father leaves, after Zuko has finally stopped screaming, after he is reborn with another scar or four to add to his collection, they bring him his food. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It’s meant to be the bare minimum, meant to barely keep him alive. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The tray is always overflowing, with chicken or sauce tucked away under the rest of the nearly unrecognizable food. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The servants who bring his meals to the guards seem equally sympathetic, often giving him cups of fresh water that are whisked out of his hands the moment he drains them, as he is only allowed a cup a day. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He loses track of the days, the gray of his cell blurring around him as time passes. The guards and servants remain silent but supportive. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>They are one of the only reasons why he hasn’t tried to kill himself permanently.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He’s sure that if he spoke to his ancestor, to the first phoenix, that she would let him stay.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He stays alive for the Avatar.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>For his people. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>If he could take the throne, he could save them.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He repeats that to himself in the weeks that Ozai visits him every night. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>If he can survive long enough, if he can take the throne, he can save his nation. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>------</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>His firebending disappeared months ago. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He continues to practice his katas, if only because they go hand in hand with his sword fighting. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The palace is shaking above him and the guards are gone from outside his cell. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It’s only moments later when someone comes sprinting down the hall. They come to a stop outside his door and Zuko straightens from where he’d been sitting. A few others join the person at his cell and then his door is swinging open. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Zuko freezes, staring wide-eyed at his saviors. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“...What…?” His voice is raspy from disuse and screams. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The guard at the front has his swords in her hands. “Fire Lord Ozai has killed Princess Azula.” She hesitates before continuing. “You are our Crown Prince.” She extends her arm, holding his weapons out. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Zuko’s breathing hitches. “He...killed Azula?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The group of guards exchange glances. “Yes.” There is pity in her voice. Zuko couldn’t care less. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“He killed my little sister.” In this moment, Azula is not a monster. She is not a killer. She is nothing but a fourteen year old girl who was his </span>
  <em>
    <span>little sister. </span>
  </em>
  <span>“Where is he?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He’s shaking as he takes his dao blades from the guard but doesn’t hesitate in unsheathing them. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“The throne room.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Zuko gives a nod and feels his flame surge back to life, the fire fed by his anger and determination. He grips his swords tighter, knuckles whitening on their hilts. “Don’t get in my way.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He runs, faster than he ever has before, faster than any human should be able to, and feels the spirits running beside him. Colors flicker at the edges of his vision, a masked figure sprinting underneath a soaring bird of fire, a woman who looks at though she was crafted from moonlight itself, a man who glows from the inside out, a fierce grin on his face. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He wonders if the trailing guards can see them as well. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He reaches the throne room. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It’s been turned into a battle ground. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He feels more than hears the guards behind him stumble at the sight before them. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Craters litter the ground, huge burns scar the walls. The fire that used to surround the Fire Lord’s throne has gone out and the Fire Nation banner is smoldering, its edges charred. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Azula’s crumpled form is in the middle of the floor, her eyes wide and empty as they stare at the ceiling. One of her arms is still extended, as if she were about to bend lightning. Her neck is snapped, bone jutting out the side. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Ozai is a few paces away, his back to the entrance as he rejoices, as he calls to Agni for his blessing. As he celebrates his success in ‘</span>
  <em>
    <span>finally removing his usurpers from their paths to his throne</span>
  </em>
  <span>.’</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Zuko doesn’t hesitate in his attack. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>This time it’s for more than himself. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It’s for his people. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It’s for the other nations. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It’s for his Uncle and his crew. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It’s for </span>
  <em>
    <span>Azula</span>
  </em>
  <span>.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Ozai doesn’t stand a chance. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Zuko ends him with one sword through his chest, the other through his stomach. It’s over in moments. It’s a quicker death than his father deserves. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>------</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Phoenixes are things of legends. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>When a firebender is born a phoenix, they are spirit touched. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Fire Lord Zuko was a phoenix. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The stories say that he fought valiantly against his evil father, that the battle was fierce and went on for days. That Princess Azula was killed in the chaos. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>They say that when Prince Zuko finally won, he was immediately crowned Fire Lord. That the Fire Nation rejoiced for days, because their lost prince had returned and saved them.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>They say that the hard part was over the moment Ozai was killed. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>They were wrong. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The fighting, the surviving, the killing? </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>That would always be easy. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It was the after that was hard. </span>
</p><p><br/>
<br/>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Yes, I will write a sequel eventually. </p><p>However I'm currently in the middle of writing a huge multi-chapter fic for a different fandom. </p><p>But...lmk what ya'll think!</p><p>(comments and kudos are instant serotonin)</p></blockquote></div></div>
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